My letter to the NYTimes RE One Step Forward, The Arab League offers an improved proposal for peace in the Middle East, a welcome announcement.

 Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world...

In 1950, on the second anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, students at the UN International Nursery School in New York viewed a poster of the historic document.   After adopting it on December 10, 1948, the UN General Assembly had called upon all Member States to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories."  (UN Photo)

 RE One Step Forward
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/opinion/one-step-forward-for-the-israelis-and-palestinians.html?ref=global

Dear Editor,

In 1948, Martin Luther Kings was fifteen years away from articulating "I have a dream" making America a more real democracy.

In 1948, after the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust, the idea of creating a country called Israel specifically as a Jewish homeland probably seemed reasonable.  That was then, this is now... Now after the longest running refugee crisis in the world today only grows more catastrophic for the native non-Jewish population of the land that Israel currently rules with an iron fist, and now as Islamists clamor to gain power, I think we must conscientiously refuse to underwrite religious tyranny of any type: Taxpayers here and there should not be funding religious 'scholars', settlements and further conflict.

Fair and just laws and respect for universal basic human rights are the tools to keep Jewish people (as well as Muslims and Christians and everyone else) safe, secure, gainfully employed, able active citizens contributing to the common good. Two fully sovereign secular states, one Israel and one Palestine living side by side in peace is the best way forward- for everyone's sake.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Fayyad Steps Down, Not Out

The Economist: Squeeze them out... As Jewish settlements expand, the Palestinians are being driven away

'Quiet man' Kerry's strategy for Middle East peace

Vatican urged to act after nuns, landowners lose Israel wall challenge After a seven-year legal battle, a group of Palestinian landowners and Catholic nuns this week lost an appeal against Israel building its separation barrier on their land.

Youth voice hope for change in static Palestinian politics

This Week in Palestine: Palestinian Institutions A Story of Perseverance ... Salam Fayyad "This was not about roads, buildings, or infrastructure, despite their importance. This plan was about statehood, citizen participation, and enfranchisement. It was based on the vision of establishing a functional framework where government is accountable and citizens participate in the widest and most effective way possible in decision-making and governance."

Israeli forces uproot 700 olive trees near Jenin

CNN online Dean Obeidallah: I'm Muslim, and I hate terrorism

Hussein Ibish: Fate of Christians will define the Arab future

"I come from there and I have memories... "

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LIKE ATFP - The American Task Force on Palestine

"The only way to honor our tragic histories is to create a future for our children free of man-made tragedy. This means making peace fully, completely and without reservation, between Israel and Palestine." ATFP's Ziad Asali: To honor a tragic history, we must work for peace

The Balfour Declaration of 1917

".... it being clearly understood that nothing
          shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
          rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine..."

"Legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Thomas Jefferson

The Office of International Religious Freedom ( http://www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/)   Given the U.S. commitment to religious freedom, and to the international covenants that guarantee it as the inalienable right of every human being, the United States seeks to:

Promote freedom of religion and conscience throughout the world as a fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries

Palestinian Refugees(1948-NOW) refused their right to return... and their right to live in peace free from religious bigotry and injustice.

The Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world." Eleanor Roosevelt

Empowering Peace & Palestine

Refugees and the Right of Return

Palestinian refugees must be given the option to exercise their right of return (as well as receive compensation for their losses arising from their dispossession and displacement) though refugees may prefer other options such as: (i) resettlement in third countries, (ii) resettlement in a newly independent Palestine (even though they originate from that part of Palestine which became Israel) or (iii) normalization of their legal status in the host country where they currently reside.  What is important is that individual refugees decide for themselves which option they prefer – a decision must not be imposed upon them.

UN Resolution 194 from 1948  : The refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.